150 residential acres in Howard set for auction

More than 150 acres of prime residential land will hit the market Oct. 22, as South Charles Realty Corp. forces the auction of Governor's Run, an Ellicott City development that has preliminary county approval for 183 homes.

"I've had 10 calls on this already," said auctioneer Jack Billig, whose A.J. Billig & Co. auction house will handle the sale.

Mr. Billig says the land is drawing interest because it has county approval for public water and sewer system access, and because county development restrictions may prevent nearby land from getting such benefits quickly.

Mr. Billig says the auction was scheduled after its former owner, whom he could not identify, defaulted on a Maryland National Bank loan of about $10 million.

South Charles, the asset disposition arm of Maryland National's parent company, ordered the sale to recoup as much of the loan as possible.

The area near the site, which is bounded by U.S. 40 and Oaks XTC Road, is developed with single-family homes, most of which sell for more than $200,000, Mr. Billig says.

Figures from the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors indicate that the housing market in Ellicott City is mixed.

The average price of a home in the 21043 ZIP code fell 1 percent, to $137,000, in the past year, according to the board.

But the median time that a home spent on the market before selling fell about 25 percent.